Cushioned tire for vehicles.



Patented May 5, 1914n EL ERM vv I UNITED sTArnSp-@E onirica.

ALBERT H. HENDERSON, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR T0 THE HENDERSON RUBBER COMPANY, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, CORPORATION OF MARYLAND.

CUSHIONED TIRE IEOR'; VEHICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 5, 1914.

Application led October 13, 1910. Serial No. 586,833.

material, is increased, as will hereinafter fully appear.

In the further description of the sa1d ln'- vention which follows reference 1s made to the accompanying drawing, forming aV part. hereof, and in which,-

Figure l is' a partly sectional side view of a wheel provided with a cushioned tire constructed after the manner of my invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross section of a part of the tire which is not under any compression strain. Fig. 3 is a View similar to Fig. 2 except that the tire is shown as it vappears when compressed by the Weight of the vehicle.

Referring now to the drawing, 1 represcnts the hub, -2 the rim, and 3 the spokes of the Wheel.

The tire is formed of a material of which rubber is the principal ingredient, in order that it may have a certain elasticity without E respect. to its conformation, or its shape in cross section.

By reference to Fig. 2 which shows the tire as vit appears when notcompressed, `it will be seen that it consistsfof an annular body b having practically an elliptical transverse section,rprovided at its inner circumference with two diverging or outwardly flared annular projections c the edges of which enter pockets d formed in the rim 2 by the flanges e. VIt will also be seen that the cavity 4 which exists between the annular projections c is V shaped, and extends outward or from the center of the wheel and beyond ,the junction of the said trated in Fig. 3. It will also be seen by reference to the drawing, that there are formed. throughout the body b of the tire, several endless annular channels 5 which are lozenge shaped in" cross section, and with their longer dimension in a direction which is ata right angle with respect to the aXis of the wheel. Under severe -compression strain, the shape of these channels is reversedas shown in Fig.- 3, that is to say,

their longer dimension becoming parallel with the axis of the wheel.

It is believed that the lozenge shape of channel described gives a more satisfactory result than any other, in that the resistance to change in the formincreases rapidly as compression force is applied to the tire when in use.

To increase the flexibility ofV the tire and at the same time prevent eXtreme atteningr of the body of the same the normal width across the projections 0 is made less than f the distance between the ends of the pockets, thus leaving the vacant spaces f shown in Fig. 2. A

lt will be further understood that the cavity 4 being V shaped in cross section its form will be modified in the compression of the tire in the same manner as are the channels 5, but not to the same extent. The shaperof the cavity when the tire is fully compressed is indicated in F ig. 3.

lt is a difficult matter to illustrate exactly the changes in shape of the channels 5, and

the cavity '-l, constantly taking place in the use of the tire, under any or all circumstances, but l. have described and shown what I believe to be substantially the alteration in form of the tire as it comes into contact with the road bed and is flattened by the weight of the vehicle.

l claim as my inventionf- A resilient tire having a central annular inverted V-shaped cavity, said tire further having annular downwardly and outwardly flared sections the inner walls of which form the sides of said cavity, combined With a rim the outer circumference of which is shaped transversely with an undulating tire supporting surface and which rim has also annular'inwardly opening side members which latter with the undulating surface of said (mier rim area constitute pockets toleceve the smid downwardly and OutWaI-dy ared sectmns Of the tlre, there belng eontmuous spaces between the Outet` eges Of saic ared -fe'ectmns Of the tu'e and the Walls Oi the 1nwardly Opening side members Of the .rim pockets, whereby shdmg movement Of sald Hnred sectlons 1n sind um pockets and a.

. f zweeeem movement of seid sections over or upon the undulating surface of said rim area are per- 10 f JULIA B. ROBINSON, 1WM. T. HOWARD. 

